PRAGUE (AFP) — Vaclav Klaus was re-elected Czech president on Friday, beating off a strong challenge from main opponent Jan Svejnar and ending a tortuous process that had been prolonged by several weeks.
In what was already a second parliamentary ballot, it still took Klaus three rounds of voting to achieve the backing of enough lawmakers to see him safely through to a second five-year term.
Klaus, 66, founder of the rightwing Civic Democrat Party (ODS), immediately called for a line to be drawn under what was an ugly campaign, marked by mutual accusations of foul play -- some lawmakers even received bullets in the post.
"I would like to put this election behind us so that we can now go ahead," Klaus said in his post-election address. "I thank you all for putting your faith in me. I will not disappoint you."
Svejnar, 55, said he had no regrets after a fiercely fought contest in which he portrayed himself as the "change" candidate.
"Even if I was not elected, it was not for nothing," declared the US-based, economist who was mainly backed by the Social Democrats but little known in his country of birth before the election campaign.
Klaus finally obtained 141 votes from lower house lawmakers and senators, one more than the threshold required. Svejnar's support by that stage in the complex multi-round system had dwindled to just 111 votes.
A majority of the combined total of lawmakers present is required to produce a result.
Before his victory, Klaus had said support for him meant support for continuity and the importance of traditional values.
"If you do not want to respect our thousands-of-years-old civilization, its Christian values and emphasis on the traditional family and respect for each individual life, do not vote for me.
"If you want to live in a future shaped by fashionable trends, when smoking will be banned and drugs tolerated, when marriage will be dispensed with as an institution and only (same sex) couples will go the town hall for registration... that is not my programme," he said.
The eurosceptic economics graduate also offered himself as a defender of the Czech national currency, the koruna.
"Do not fear that I will support the continued existence of our currency as long as it remains advantageous for citizens of the Czech Republic," he said.
A third candidate, from the Communist Party, pulled out at the last minute and pledged his support to Svejnar but it was not enough to see him surpass Klaus, even with the help of the small Green Party.
Svejnar, a former adviser to Klaus's predecessor Vaclav Havel, was almost unknown to the general public before declaring his candidacy in December. A US-style election campaign raised his profile but he was always an underdog in the race.
Havel, the iconic hero of the Velvet Revolution which toppled communism, was one of the first to congratulate Klaus, with whom he clashed frequently in the past. "I hope that your presidency will be easier than your election," he said.
A Czech finance minister as far back as 1989, Klaus is a veteran of the political scene. He was prime minister from 1992-1997, parliamentary speaker from 1998-2002 and has been president since 2003.
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